How Matthew McConaughey's 'Mud' Became A Breakout Indie Hit

The breakout box-office success of the Matthew McConaughey movie
“Mud” has surprised everyone — except independent film company
Roadside Attractions, which has been nothing if not systematic in
its marketing and release.

The Mississippi River-set coming-of-age drama has made nearly $17
million since opening back on April 26 and is easily the
highest-grossing movie in the seven-year history of the company.
All the more impressively, it's never played in more than 960
theaters.

"It's been an amazing ride," said Howard Cohen, co-president of
with Eric D’Arbeloff at Roadside, which with Lionsgate
Entertainment acquired and is distributing Mud."

That ride isn't over yet. The PG-13-rated "Mud" broke into the
top 10 in its second week and remains there, five weeks later.
And Roadside’s box-office grosses for 2013 are already up to
$19.8 million -- better than 2012’s total of $19.4 million.

What's more, with four movies
still to come this summer, starting Friday with Joss Whedon's
modern-day Shakespeare adaptation "Much Ado About Nothing," and
three more due in in the fall, Roadside looks like a lock to top
its best year ever. That was 2011 when “Conspirator,” "Margin
Call," “Biutiful” and Oscar Best Picture nominee “Winter’s Bone”
helped them take in roughly $28 million.

“Mud” was written and directed by Jeff Nichols ("Take Shelter"),
and co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepherd and Nichols regular
Michael Shannon. It was financed by Everest Entertainment and
produced by Everest and FilmNation Entertainment for about $12
million, and competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year,
which is where Roadside picked it up.

It follows two teenage boys (Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) who
encounter a fugitive (McConaughey) and form a pact to help him
evade a bounty hunter and reunite with his true love
(Witherspoon).

“Mud” quickly caught the eye of Roadside and Lionsgate executives
at Cannes.

“We’ve focused primarily on intelligent, upscale movies with
significant casts that have commercial elements, not pure art
films, and ‘Mud’ certainly fit that profile,” said Howard Cohen,
co-president with Eric D’Arbeloff at Roadside.

Once the deal closed in July, the next questions were the timing
of the U.S. release and how to market the film.

“At the time, there was a lot of Matthew out there,” Cohen
said. A revived McConaughey was on screen throughout 2012 in
“Bernie,” “Killer Joe” and "Magic Mike.” So the decision was made
to go with a spring 2013 release, which allowed Roadside and
Lionsgate to take the film to the Sundance and South by Southwest
film festivals.

“It was very well received and reviewed at both,’ Cohen said,
“and that gave us a lot of buzz ahead of the opening.” "Mud"
rolled out on 363 screens in late April -- more than a month
after Focus Features debuted "Place Beyond the Pines," an
arthouse-thriller which targeted a similar audience and had Ryan
Gosling in the title role.

When it came to the marketing, Cohen said that they pursued a
more commercial, rather than arthouse, strategy.

“The trailer (at end of story) pushes the genre elements -- the
thriller aspect, the gunplay -- while at the same time
emphasizing the reviews, and mentioning Cannes. It presents the
film not as a standard thriller and not as pure arthouse either,
and that was because we wanted to go to a wider demographic,”
Cohen said. “That’s how we went with the TV spots, too.”

"Mud" has played to a primarily -- 60 percent -- female audience,
despite its gritty story line, and very well in New York, Los
Angeles and San Francisco.

But set on the Mississippi River, it also has played very
strongly in the South -- particularly so in Austin, where
McConaughey and Nichols live, and throughout Texas. In terms of
box office, the No. 2-grossing theater for the film (behind the
Arclight Hollywood) is in Little Rock, Ark., where it was
shot.

“It’s a Heartland story,” Cohen said, “and Matthew McConaughey is
very popular in those regions, but mainly the film speaks for
itself.”

Roadside doesn’t develop or
produce movies; it buys the rights, does the marketing and puts
them in theaters. It's a lean operation, with just 18 full-time
employees, well below the numbers employed by other specialty
labels.

It’s a formula that is working better than it ever has before, in
part because it's found a groove with partner Lionsgate, which
bought a 43 percent stake in 2007. The two companies have
developed a reputation for being aggressive on the festival
circuit, where Cohen and d'Arbeloff, along with Lionsgate's Jason
Constantine, are familiar faces.

Last year, they left the Toronto International Film Festival with
the rights to Stuart Blumberg’s “Thanks for Sharing,” Shari
Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s “Imogene,” Whedon’s “Much
Ado About Nothing” and Sarah Polley’s family documentary,
“Stories We Tell.”

The company doesn’t list its releases on Box Office Mojo or
Exhibitor Relations’ slate of upcoming film, so you have to be
paying particularly close attention — or check in on their clever
and occasionally sardonic Twitter account — to know what’s
coming.

First up is “Much Ado About Nothing” in New York, Los Angeles and
San Francisco. No one is expecting superhero-sized grosses from
this one, but anything “The Avengers” director is involved in is
bound to draw attention, and a nationwide rollout is planned for
June 21.

“Redemption,” a thriller
starring Jason Statham, is set for June 28. Steven Knight (“Dirty
Pretty Things”) wrote and directed the tale of a man on the run
from a military court martial, who descends into London’s
underworld, assumes another’s identity and becomes an avenging
angel.

On July 19, the company will roll out the Kristin Wiig comedy
“Girl Most Likely” on roughly 300 screens. Annette Bening, Matt
Dillon and Darren Criss co-star in the film, which follows a
failed New York playwright transitioning from Next Big Thing to
Last Year’s News. That one’s probably the one with the most
commercial appeal.

“In a World …,” in which Lake Bell makes her writing and
directing debut, will close out Roadside’s summer on Aug. 9. In
the comedy, Bell plays a voice coach who ventures into the
competitive all-male race to land the voiceover gig for the
trailer of a massive blockbuster trilogy. Rob Corddry and Nick
Offerman co-star.

It’s a diverse slate, which will get even broader in the fall.

First there is the Gwyneth Paltrow-Mark Ruffalo sex-addiction
comedy “Thanks for Sharing,” on Sept. 20. That’s followed by the
Lionsgate production “Grace Unplugged,” starring Disney TV star
AJ Michalka as a young Christian singer whose faith is put to the
test when she gets her big break.

That one will debut on about 500 screens — about as big as
Roadside ever goes with openings — on Oct. 4. And two weeks
later, Roadside will debut its recent Cannes pickup, the Robert
Redford shipwreck saga “All Is Lost,” which looks sure to draw
awards attention.

All that adds up to a year that will be the company's best and
could actually change the way Roadside does business.